Zuo Li was only slightly intimidated.

Cui Si Niu was about to wet her pants.

"Yes, I sold them, but my family's flower cakes are absolutely non-toxic. They use the same kind of flowers as Yan's Pastry Shop, and they are mixed with precious sugar, oil, and flour. How could they be poisonous? This scholar must be making up lies."

Her voice trembled, especially when she saw Xiao Wuzi bring out long needles and a whip.

It was shaking like a sieve.

"How did you learn to make flower cakes? Did you steal the recipe from the Yan family's pastry shop?"

Zuo Li pressed for an answer.

"No, how could I dare to steal the secret recipe? The hills of Baihua Village are covered with flowers. It's not like Yan Xia has them all to herself. Why can she use them but I can't? They're just roses. The hills are full of them. I picked them myself. What does it have to do with her? Flower cakes are made just like the scallion pancakes we eat at home. Do they really need a secret recipe?"

Cui Si Niu quickly denied it, lest she be accused of stealing the secret recipe.

Wouldn't her family end up like the Chen family?

Did you meet in prison?

Do you still have any filling for flower cakes?

"No, the roses have long since withered. Where are we going to get filling? My family hasn't sold any for a long time. They only sold it once. Sir, this scholar's mother died. It really has nothing to do with me. Maybe she ate something else and died. How can you blame it on me? A mere student, indeed! Does someone like that deserve to study?"

Cui Siniu was furious. If she had known this would happen today, she wouldn't have come to town.

It was all because of her greedy little daughter-in-law.

She's such a troublemaker. Once she leaves the county office and gets home, I'll definitely give her a good talking-to.

That's a killer thing!

"Alright, third brother, gather the brothers and come with me. The rest of you keep an eye on those two."

"It's the boss."

Zuo Li brought five men with him.

They drove the horse-drawn carriage to Hundred Flowers Village.

The carriage was fast, and it arrived at the village entrance in less than half an hour.

Zuo Li casually asked an old lady and found Cui Siniu's house.

The front door of her house happened to be open.

"Brothers, search!"

The woman was dishonest, and Zuo Li didn't completely believe her. He had come to search her house for ingredients for poisoned flower cakes.

The entire Luo family was at home.

Seeing this, they were terrified.

"What's going on, sir? Can you tell me what's going on and why you're searching my house?"

Luo Jingui bowed, asking with a mixture of flattery and fear.

"You must be Cui Siniu's husband, right? You and your husband were selling drug-laced pastries. You'll be coming with me later. As for the rest of you, go to the county government office as well."

The man in the portrait has long, narrow, triangular eyes, a thick, large nose, and an ugly appearance, even though the painter in Anning County was not very skilled.

But because of his striking ugliness, Zuo Li recognized him at a glance.

Luo Jingui was so frightened that his legs went weak and he almost collapsed to the ground.

The sons also looked flustered.

A short while later, the five officers came out after searching the place.

"Boss, there's a patch of roses in the backyard, nothing else is unusual."

Zuo Li assigned four men to guard them.

They arrived at the Luo family's backyard one after the other.

There was indeed a large field of roses.

In winter, the flowers have long since faded, and the bare stems are covered with thorns. The rose also has another name: thorny rose.

Because of its thorns, it is easy to distinguish from other flowers.

"Dig up five saplings and bring them back to the county office. Remember, don't focus on digging up the same spot."

"Understood, boss."

Xiao Wuzi was very efficient. He took out an iron shovel from the Luo family's outhouse and started digging.

After digging up five plants, roots and all, they were placed on the carriage.

The area outside the Luo family's gate was packed with people.

Because the old lady Zuo Li asked about was none other than the village's top loudspeaker.

Aunt Cuihua!

So in less than the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the whole village knew that officials had come to the Luo family.

People gathered outside to watch the spectacle, speculating what the Luo family had done wrong.

Some say Cui Siniu stole things, while others say Luo Jingui harassed the young girl.

Some people say that the three sons of the Luo family were caught red-handed stealing someone's underwear.

In short, there's not a single good person in that family.

"Alright, lock the door and come with me."

Even if you squeeze into a carriage, it can only seat 6 people.

Zuo Li had the three women from the Luo family sit in the carriage, and assigned two of his men to sit with them and watch over them. Another man drove the carriage to take them back to town first, and then came back to pick them up. He himself, along with two other men, escorted the three Luo brothers and Luo Jingui behind them.

After the group left.

The villagers pointed and whispered about their retreating figures.

"What did they do wrong? How come the whole family has been arrested?"

"I suspect it was theft? Otherwise, how could the three Luo brothers suddenly have money to get married?"

"No wonder. I was among the first group to arrive and happened to see the head constable ordering his men to search the Luo family's house. They were probably looking for stolen goods."

"Oh dear, we don't know what sins our village has committed. In the past two years, the Chen family, the Yan family, and the Luo family have all been involved in something that's hard to get out of jail. Is the Yan family some kind of plague?"

"Why are you dragging the Yan family into this for no reason? What does the Luo family's trouble have to do with her? You're not just holding a grudge against her for not choosing you as her helper, are you? That's why you're deliberately slandering her."

"I hold a grudge against her? Who cares? I wouldn't go even if she invited me."

The woman who had been slandering Yan Xia swayed her large buttocks as she left.

"Pah! Who would believe that? It's so sour it's overwhelming."

The old woman who spoke up for Yan Xia gave her a disdainful look.

When they returned to the county government office in Shuangqiao Town.

It was already afternoon.

Zuo Li imprisoned all members of the Luo family.

They asked questions one by one.

I consulted a doctor I knew about rose varieties, and it took me a whole night to figure it out.

It turns out that the Luo family coveted Aunt Yan's pastry shop because it was very profitable. Coincidentally, Luo Bai saw Aunt Yan's daughter picking roses, so he kept an eye on it.

Under the cover of night, they dug up all the roses and brought them back, only to find that they had dug up the wrong variety. This rose was completely different from the one Aunt Yan used. One was non-toxic and sweet, while the other was poisonous and bitter. When the roses bloomed for the second time, the family picked the flowers and made them into flower cakes. Because they didn't have a secret recipe, the flower cakes they made were very unpalatable.

So they took it to a neighboring county and sold it at a low price under the name of Yan's Pastry Shop. Unexpectedly, the people who ate it suffered from vomiting and diarrhea. Coincidentally, Chen Tongsheng's mother was already in poor health and couldn't hold on.

And that's how I went.

Zuo Li sent his men to a neighboring county to invite several witnesses who had also bought Cui Siniu's flower cakes, as well as the itinerant doctor who had treated Chen Tongsheng's mother.

The next day, all the witnesses, physical evidence, and the criminals were handed over to the county magistrate for a decision.

This efficient work style made the busy magistrate feel relieved, and his appreciation for Zuo Li increased even further.

The first day after the New Year.

The area outside the county government office was already packed with people early on.

"mighty--"

With the official's authoritative voice, the county magistrate took his seat in court.